Puzzle Pieces
Posted on Sun Apr 12th, 2026 @ 2:05am by Commander Rhupert Tyree & Commander Daynah Ral & Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel & Lieutenant Commander Zuub & Lieutenant Aria Kanzaki & Ensign Nyx Calder
2,057 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Avan's Colony
Location: Crew Lounge, SS. Adelaide. Quatral Prime
Timeline: Immediately after Is This the Road to Recovery?
The smell of chocolate, coffee and pastries still greeted the crew of SS. Adelaide as they entered the lounge, just six hours after disembarking to help the colonists on Avan's Colony.
Aria took a seat at the table after grabbing a strong coffee and one of the sweet pastries. She had a weakness for sweet treats, so this was an unexpected surprise.
Richard entered the lounge, having left Cansteel in Zuub's capable hands, he grabbed himself a strong tea. "How are the pastries?" He asked Aria.
"Not bad," Aria replied was she turned one over in her hand.
Nyx slipped into the lounge like she was trying not to be noticed and failing purely on principle. Jacket half-zipped, hair a mess, she clocked the food first and beelined for it, snagging a pastry and a mug without asking. One bite in, she let out a low, satisfied hum. “Yep. Still alive. Pastries remain undefeated.” She dropped into a chair sideways, knee hooked over the edge, eyes flicking around the room to see who was there.
Daynah stepped into the lounge without so much as word. She had a lot of questions and no answers, at least not yet. Add to that the Captain being called away on another covert mission. Gods she hated intelligence. Add to that the roof being torn off the settlement. At the moment the first order of business was coffee. As she poured a steaming cup of black coffee she was reminded of how much she hated the stuff. Ral had become addicted of sorts when joined with Alaryc and here they were. It helped them think, and cleared their head. She took a sip and grimaced at how gross the taste was. She sat down and looked around the table at those gathered. At the moment the doctor, Amy, and Katya are the only ones missing. Daynah Ral was not one to repeat themselves and so she waited for the others.
Zuub walked into the the room, her antennae unsteadily wobbling. She acknowledged everyone with a nod before telling everyone, barely above a whisper, "I'm afraid that we have a problem."
It was precisely what Daynah did not want to hear in this moment. However, the part of her that was Norah Ral a diplomat reminded her to never let them see you sweat. She set the coffee down after having her usual sip and grimace. "Doctor please sit down and lets take this by the numbers. What do you have?"
Zuub did as she was instructed and then reported, "I am afraid that Lieutenants David and Gordon will not be joining us for this briefing. I have them in quarantine at the moment."
With this sip of coffee there was a lot more than a grimace, there was practically a spit take. But Daynah kept it together. Today is going from bad to worse. Can it just end already? she thought. "Alright, Doctor. Quarantine is at your discretion. But why? Is there something on the planet that can affect us all?"
"Not so long as whatever stays on the planet, and as long as the quarantine holds," Zuub answered. "I'm currently analyzing the situation. The computer quarantined them immediately upon their arrival with a woman named Zinna, who is currently stuck in the pattern buffer."
"Alright, your priority right now is doing what you can to get our people out of quarantine, and learning why the computer quarantined them in the first place. Do we have all the information we need to get this colony back up and running?" Daynah addressed the question to everyone all at once. They needed to get the hell off this rock as soon as possible. But, she would not leave a mission unfinished.
Zuub answered, "I'm having the computer cross-reference my findings from my away team with the symptoms and experiences that the Lieutenants experienced. My antennae feel like they are linked, though my brain cannot say why. Hopefully I should have some results soon."
Daynah acknowledged the Doctor with a nod. She knew that despite everything, the Doctor would work her hardest to get the answers that were needed. She turned to the rest of the crew with a look that said what do you all have. She hoped that the rest of the crew had better answers.
"Would you like me to return to that and miss the remainder of the briefing or stay and see if something said here may help?" Zuub asked, her antennae wobbling.
"Remain, this should not take much longer." Daynah answered the Doctor's question before she addressed the rest of the crew. "Is there anything to report? Has the settlement been returned to normal operations, without the causing of illness."
"As you wish," Zuub answered, as she sat down and waited to listen to the reports from the rest of the crew. Anything she had could wait, per the Commander's statement. Her antennae twittered slightly and then warbled. "Perhaps this would also be a good time to mention that I have a Klingon in the transporter pattern buffer. The computer would not allow her transport onto the ship due to her ailment. Like the Lieutenants, I am attempting to find a solution."
"If the transporter allowed the Lieutenants but not the Klingon that would mean that the Klingon is farther along in this ailment and may be beyond treatment. Doctor I cannot allow you to materialize that person on this ship under any circumstances. Additionally, if they are kept in the buffer for too long they will simply degrade into nothingness. The options as I see them are to send the Klingon back to the settlement which would risk everyone there, or purge the buffer. We could rematerialize them within a level five containment field to ask them what they would want to do. But that is the best they could do." This situation solidified Daynah's hatred of these kinds of missions. Most people who served in this capacity did as they pleased. She had no idea what could have possessed the Lieutenants to get themselves infected, and then to allow an infected individual such as this Klingon is simply shoot first and ask questions later.
"It is true that the pattern will degrade over time, but if I can find a cure in that time, the delay will have been worth it." Zuub's antennae stood bolt upright and twittered quickly. "My understanding is that there is nowhere to beam her back to based on the information I have received, so, I require the time. I must try."
"Agree with Zuub, and I'll do what I can to slow the pattern degradation and give her more time, Ma'am." Richard said.
Daynah understood where the Doctor and Richard came from. No matter how talented Richard was he was not Montgomery Scott, hell Scott may have just gotten lucky. She sipped the coffee again, and again another grimace. "To the best of my knowledge a pattern has ten minutes before degradation begins. Seeing as we cannot materialize the person here, and they cannot go back. Can you cure this in ten minutes?" Daynah did not wait for an answer from the Doctor. "Doc, I sympathize and understand your position. However, the best we can do for this person is give them an honorable death, or at least present the honorable death to them."
"Commander, I have a duty to do no harm," Zuub responded, her antennae starting to lean backwards towards her scalp. "If after nearly ten minutes, I have not found a cure, then we can place her in a stasis field to attempt to cure her then. If necessary, we could rinse and repeat with with transporter buffer until this is cured. I will do everything I can to find a cure and keep her alive."
"Actually Doctor, no you cannot rinse and repeat as you put it. The USS Voyager's logs from the Delta Quadrant speak to that. The more you put someone in transporter stasis the more likely they will simply die in the buffer. I am not asking you to break any oath that you have made, and further I am not asking you to kill anyone. What I am doing is ordering you to do your best within the next ten minutes. If a cure is found great all is well. If a cure is not found then I will take responsibility for what happens." Daynah's demeanor shifted as she spoke. Gone was the gentle, smile, and soft spokeness that she became known for. In its place was a tone that bilked no argument. It was a tone of voice that came from Ral, Alaryc the former Captain to be exact.
Zuub knew nothing of Ral, nor would she have cared. However, what she did know is that she would do her best and when ten minutes came, well, she would make a decision then. Her antennae leaned back more towards her scalp. "Since my time is dwindling, may I be dismissed to work on the problem?" Zuub inquired.
Daynah looked at the Doctor and she knew that Zuub did not like what she had to say. Hell, neither did she. However, it was something that needed to be done. "I will see you in ten minutes Doctor. Dismissed."
Zuub rose, turned on her heels, pulled out her PADD, and checked on the data regarding her two away team members in quarantine. Interestingly, everything appeared to be in order, so she would likely be releasing them. Then, it was only a matter of solving the problem for the Klingon, regardless of the Commander's willingness to give up after a mere ten minutes.
Given the quarantine, the Klingon stuck in the pattern buffer, and Daynah putting a hard ten-minute clock on the problem, I’d close Nyx out with something like this:
Nyx had gone very still by the end of it, pastry halfway to her mouth and forgotten there. For once she didn’t have a joke ready. She just looked from Daynah to Zuub and then down into her mug like maybe the answer had sunk to the bottom with the dregs.
“Well,” she said at last, quiet and a little rough round the edges, “that got dark fast.”
She set the pastry down. “I’m no doctor, and I’m definitely not touching the ethics of any of… that, but if you need the ship moved, a containment field held steady, or the transporters babied while you figure it out, I’m here.” Her blue-green eyes flicked briefly towards Zuub, then Daynah. “Otherwise I’m gonna shut up now before I say something wildly unhelpful.” Then, because she was still Nyx, the corner of her mouth twitched. “Personal growth. Terrifying for everybody.”
Daynah had two thoughts in her mind at the moment. The first was that she did not look forward to what she would have to do in ten minutes. The second was that she was going to be in the Brig when Rhu returned, because she was going to kill him.
END
A joint post by:
Ensign Nyx Calder
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Valiant
Commander Daynah Ral
Chief Science Officer
Executive Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Commander Zuub
Chief Medical Officer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Commander Richard Dalziel
Chief Engineer
USS Valiant
Lieutenant Aria Kanzaki
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Valiant
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